In its annual "Global Entertainment and Media Outlook" report covering 2007 through 2011, consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers has concluded that the video gaming industry is poised to overtake the music industry in the US, with global spending on video games surpassing music spending as soon as this year. The rising penetration of broadband combined with consoles with online capabilities, wireless phones capable of downloading games, and technologically advanced consoles are credited with driving the video game industry's strong growth. One shouldn't of course outrule that DRM is to blame for the music industry's fallback.
PwC believes that the gaming industry will see a compound annual growth rate of 9.1% between 2007 and 2011, resulting in a $48.9 billion global video game market in 2011, up from $37.5 billion this year. The US market will grow much more slowly than that, though, going from $10.4 billion to $12.5 billion over the same period. PwC says that Asia will see the greatest growth during that time and see the largest amount of spending, topping out at $18.8 billion in 2011 with a CAGR of 10%. The report also makes note that global spending on console and handheld games will go up from $6.5 billion in 2006 to $7.9 in 2011.
News source: Ars Technica
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